Boro's new head coach referenced the Italian alongside Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp and Marcelo Bielsa as head coaches he admired. That's fine company for the former Brighton boss to be in.
Hellberg is a self-confessed football obsessive and when he was learning his trade in Sweden and studying the English game, De Zerbi's Brighton were one of the teams he watched extremely closely.
It was then that he first clapped eyes on Jeremy Sarmiento.
Sarmiento was already a Brighton player when De Zerbi arrived as boss in September, 2022, and the Italian quickly took a liking to the winger.
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The early stages of Sarmiento's Brighton career had been disrupted by two quite severe injury setbacks. First, he suffered a hamstring injury on his full Premier League debut at West Ham in December 2021 and was sidelined for four months. Then, in March of 2023, he fractured a metatarsal while playing in a friendly for Ecuador and missed the rest of that season.
He'd still played 12 times for De Zerbi in that campaign though, and despite the fact he had three years left to run on his contract at the time, the head coach had seen enough to merit an improved deal. A new five-year contract was signed.
Sarmiento started out at Charlton and left for Benfica in 2018. Manchester City were said to have been interested at the time. Three years later, he returned to England to join the Seagulls, reportedly turning down Barcelona and Bayern Munich.
He was described by the tabloids as a "wonderkid", and Andy Croft, boss of Brighton's Under-23s at the time said: “We are delighted that we are able to bring a player like Jeremy in, who we’ve watched extensively during his time with both Charlton and Benfica.
“The pathway we have in place was a big factor in Jeremy choosing us ahead of many suitors, which is of huge credit to the academy and first-team staff.
“We look forward to welcoming Jeremy and seeing him in action with the U23s in the near future.”
Born in Madrid to Ecuadorian parents, Sarmiento also had international options. He played for England at youth level and was previously said to have been at the centre of a tug-of-war between England, Spain and Ecuador.
He committed to Ecuador and made his debut in 2021.
Brian Owen, who covers the Seagulls for the Brighton Argus, described Sarmiento as an "inventive, attacking player who can run at defenders and deliver a decent cross".
Owen added: "We probably saw two moments which underlined what he can do, and both of them under Roberto De Zerbi, who was the Brighton boss who showed most faith in him.
"Committing defenders, looking up and spotting a well-placed team-mate as he did for a late winner by Kaoru Mitoma against Bournemouth and Evan Ferguson’s second senior goal in a 4-1 win at Everton."
De Zerbi's departure was a blow for Sarmiento, who has never quite managed to force his way into Fabian Hurzeler's thinking.
After Hurzeler's appointment, Sarmiento turned down the chance of an end of season holiday following his loan spell with Ipswich so was able to join up with the Brighton squad for a pre-season trip to Tokyo.
“Obviously I was so keen to come back and show people what I have been doing in the past year from Ipswich and the Copa America," said Sarmiento at the time.
“I am full of confidence right now and I just want to bring all here now and show the boss.
“I think I have matured as a player throughout the year. I had more game time, which is what I was looking for. I was involved in goals and assists, which is part of my game I wanted to improve.”
It was an admirable show of commitment from Sarmiento, but he wasn't quite able to play his way into Hurzeler's plans and headed out on loan to Burnley.
"He’s technically very good, he’s got a really tight-knit control and he takes really good care of the ball," says Matt Scrafton, who covers the Clarets for the Burnley Express.
"He’s got a good shot on him too, scoring five times for Burnley and, off the top of my head, most were low, drilled finishes from the edge of the box or finessed curling efforts into the far corner.
"He’s capable of playing across the forward line too, whether that’s on either flank or even in a number 10 role just off the frontman.
"He can go missing though, drifting in and out of games for large periods where you don’t really notice him. But at the same time, he’ll always put a shift in and do what is required to defend for the team."
Sarmiento made 37 appearances in all competitions for Burnley last season, but found himself a victim of Scott Parker's team selection consistency once the Clarets found their feet and set off on a charge to promotion.
Sarmiento went on to join Cremonese on loan in the summer. Boro monitored from afar. And when the recruitment team sat down with Hellberg the week before Christmas and laid out potential January options, Sarmiento jumped off the page for Boro's head coach.
Hellberg was drawn to the fact Sarmiento is comfortable playing left or as a No.10. Given his approach is influenced by De Zerbi, there's also a strong belief the new recruit will very quickly adapt to life at Boro. Boro received extremely positive references.
And once interest was made known, Boro was the move Sarmiento really wanted. Birmingham thought they had their man this time last week when Boro looked to have walked away from negotiations. But after Sarmiento once again stressed his desire to move to the Riverside, Brighton brought Boro back to the negotiating table.
For Sarmiento, the dream is winning promotion with Boro and in doing so playing his way into Ecuador's World Cup squad.
"Winning back to back promotions was an amazing feeling for me," he said.
"I have the chance to do it again with Middlesbrough. My head is on that."